Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Alberta Tour Part 2

Drumheller was like nirvana for Logan - he was riding a wave of excitement or a prehistoric amphibian in this case.

The night before we checked out the area in Drumheller. Just as we started out we came upon this tiny church. It is actually used but only seats 6.

It was open so we went in and listened intently as Logan gave his Daily Dino Devotional.

More terrain - this is called Horse Thief Canyon.

This picture captures the typical weather of the west. It changes frequently and it has not been too warm - high teens with rain littered through most days. This shot was taken at 9:50pm - it stays light out for a long time.

Next morning, though, we got to the business at hand - the Royal Tyrell Museum. This museum is unreal - the fossils are incredible. Given that the actual weight of the bones are incredibly heavy fossils are usually mixed with casts of the original so they can be safely mounted. This picture is a T. Rex.

A real fossil of a Triceratops skull.

They had these sessions called Science Break and this particular session was called "What is a Dino?". It was a discussion about the link between dinosaurs and birds. The presenter pretty much had her presentation narrated by Logan as he guessed most of the time what she was going to say next! People around were amazed at his knowledge. We would pass by these same people later on and they would say "hey there's the dino expert" - Logan was in his element!

A Lambeosaurus full skeleton.

This is a full skeleton of an Elasmosaurus. The size of this thing was amazing. The Loch Ness Monster is thought to be an Elasmosaurus.

I narrowly missed getting my melon chomped by this dunkleosteus!

Here's a view of the museum from above.

Sara, Logan and I after an exciting first day.

The next morning saw sunshine and warmer temperatures - we loved it. We had a couple of programs on the schedule - Dinosite (looking for fossils) and Fossil Casting (learning how to make casts of fossils).

Looking for fossils was right up Logan's alley. Our guide, Clare, was actually from Hamilton and was working at the museum for the summer.

Logan stuck to her like glue and he never stopped talking dinos - Clare and all the staff were great with him and actually enjoyed it cause they did not have to create discussion.

His new friend.

Here's Logan at the Fossil Casting session. He's preparing the mold.

Once poured in we let it sit and after 10 minutes....

Voila! An exact fossil replica.

After Fossil Casting we ventured through the museum one last time and saw this real fossil of a T. Rex skull - check out those teeth! We had an blast at the museum and I think we'll be back.

The next morning before leaving for Calgary we stopped by the "World's Largest Dinosaur". The structure is 86 feet tall and there are stairs inside that head up to the mouth where you see out over Drumheller.

The view was cool and Logan thought it was cool being in the dino's mouth....

Me? Not so much! I think I shat in my pantaloons! After we made our way out of Drumheller to the next stop on our tour - Calgary.